From the details of the set-up to the structure
of a balanced and well-defined finish, sit back
and enjoy a series of key lessons aimed at
rewarding you with a dynamic posture and a
series of stepping stones to a co-ordinated
motion of the arms and body. The 2011
champion James Voce joined inaugural
pro winner and Trilby Tour ambassador
Steve Cowle in the studio for a bespoke fitting

A TAILOR-MADE POSTURE ENGAGES ‘CORE’ MUSCLES

Rehearse this simple posture routine as often as you can so that you make a habit of standing to the ball with sharp body angles and dynamic balance.

Note that in a good set-up posture the arms and upper body relate comfortably to each other – there is no need to reach in order to find a comfortable position

A good posture should feel
strong and athletic, the body
primed for action. Time and
again I see amateur golfers who
slouch over the ball, often with
too much flex in their knees, as
if they are about to sit in an armchair,
with the upper spine and shoulders too
rounded. These faults combined lead to inefficient
movement in the swing.

What you must remember is that the rotation
of the body – the ‘pivot’ motion – is the engine
that generates your speed. We are looking for
‘core’ rotation, and to enjoy that you have to
prime the muscles in your body accordingly.
The three-step routine you see above will
help you to practise making a good set-up
(and this is something you really do have
to practice to get right). With the club
pulled tight down your back, stand tall,
then bend from the hips to create your
spine angle before finally adding knee flex.
Hold your chin up off your chest and find your
balance with your weight towards the balls of
your feet – if you stand with your weight back
on your heels you will effectively immobilise
your lower body.

Take time to fine-tune a good posture. The
angles and the balance you create here determine
the quality and consistency of your swing.

Rehearse this simple posture routine
as often as you can so that you make a
habit of standing to the ball with sharp
body angles and dynamic balance.

Note that in a good set-up posture the
arms and upper body relate comfortably to
each other – there is no need to reach in
order to find a comfortable position

GOOD POSTURE IS CONSISTENT

One of the questions I often get asked as a coach is
how far should you stand from the ball with each of
the clubs in the bag. Well, the simple answer is that if
you rehearse the posture sequence illustrated above, you will develop good
set-up habits that solve that issue automatically.
Good posture gives your body the opportunity to function
efficiently, whichever club you happen to be
using. You don’t ever change your fundamentals. As
you create your spine angle, allow your arms to hang
‘loose’ and then bring the palms of your hands together...
and that’s where you naturally hold the club. Don’t
reach for the ball by pushing your arms further away,
just stand a little closer to it as you work down from
the longest shaft in the driver to the shortest in
your most lofted wedge.

Bending from the hips
establishes this distinct
spine angle and allows
the arms to hang freely -
identifying your natural
holding position

COOL FIRST MOVE? ARMS, HANDS AND CLUB AS ONE

Think about the golf swing as a chain reaction,
in which one good move leads to another, and
the importance of the takeaway is crystal clear:
as the first ‘link’ in the chain – following a good
set-up posture – it is vital that you negotiate
these opening moves correctly. The first move
from the ball sets the path on which the club
will follow. And the key here is that the shoulders,
arms, hands and the club should all
move away together until your hands reach a
position outside the right thigh. So it’s very
much a ‘one-piece’ type of feel to this point,
and it’s important as you move to this position
that the hips remain inactive at this stage.
While you may experience a gentle ‘bump’ of a
weight shift into the right side, the lower body
holds its position momentarily before the hips
then begin to turn to facilitate the coiling of the
upper body.

One final point: you don’t hit the ball with
your backswing, so keep it ‘low and smooth’
and build your speed gradually.

Arms, hands and upper body
work together to move the club
over the first few feet of the
swing. Key is to keep the hips
relatively quiet to this point; as
the swing then progresses the
hips turn to facilitate the full
rotation of the upper body

EASY DOES IT

Having adjusted his posture,
James found that he was in a
better position to make this first
move count. Previously he had a
tendency to move the club away
first, which involved his arms working
independently in front of his chest
(and led to the club being across the
line at the top of the swing – as you
will see pictured overleaf). In just a
few minutes working on this sensation
of ‘togetherness’, with a sense
of controlling the initial movement
from the shoulders, this key first
move is much better. A tip I
offered James is to feel a softness
in the right shoulder – as
you relax the right side you
rotate more easily into the
backswing.

No lifting, jerking the club back or
picking it up too steeply. The club
traces a natural inside path as the
arms and upper body work together

TURN YOUR LEFT
SHOULDER UNDER
YOUR CHIN

The move to the top of the swing
should continue to be smooth as
you coil the upper body over the
hips and knees. A simple cue here
(once you have negotiated the first
move away from the ball) is to
focus on turning your left shoulder
under your chin. Again, this brings
us back to the importance of good
posture at the set-up, with the chin
up off the chest. As long as you
maintain that you will find that turning
the left shoulder is easy to do
(unless you happen to be wearing
a bespoke William Hunt suit!).

In this position you are looking
for evidence of a full shoulder
turn – along with as straight a left
arm as you can get. (Some players
are more flexible and able to
do this than others!). When you
check your position, you want to
see the hands in line with the right
shoulder. The right elbow should
feel as though it points downwards
and your wrists should
have fully hinged. The right knee
should be facing forward and still
flexed with the weight down the
inside of the right leg. All in all,
you should feel coiled up like a
spring, bursting with energy and
ready to unwind.

Turning your left shoulder under your
chin while maintaining the athletic
posture angles created at the set up
rewards you with a loaded backswing
position. Looking down the
line (left), you want to see your
hands swing up over the tip of the
right shoulder

ARMS AND BODY
BETTER ‘CONNECTED’

The beauty of improving the quality
of your posture at the set-up is that
you reap the benefit of a better
body action – and that is something
that is going to help James in
a big way over the coming months.
The inset photo above illustrates
James’ tendency to get the club
across the line at the top of his
backswing, and you can see also
that the right knee has straightened
and his right elbow is ‘disconnected’
from his body. All of these little
quirks lead to inconsistency – and
in James’ case losing shots out to
the right. By improving his posture
and the subsequent moves in the
takeaway, James will find that he is
able to combine a full shoulder turn
with a more compact arm-swing,
and so get the club into a stronger
position at the top. As a result he
can look forward to a more on-line
route back to the ball and sweeter,
straighter shots.

A tendency to overuse
his hands at
the start of the
swing results in the
shaft crossing the
line at the top
(right). Improving
both his posture
and first move from
the ball will solve
this problem,
rewarding James
with a slightly more
compact and on
line backswing
position

JOB DONE: THE BENEFIT OF A GOOD FINISH

No matter what you do in your backswing,
the quality of your follow-through
can often make the difference in recovering
a shot. But if you have a poor,
unfinished follow-through, you’re asking
for trouble. One of the most effective
lessons that I try to instil in the players I
coach is that if you simply focus on
swinging to a full and committed finish,
you will actually improve all of the links
in the chain that get you there.
This is an area of the swing where amateurs
really can learn an awful lot watching
the pros. In fact, if you were to commit to
finishing every single swing in perfect balance,
supported chiefly on the left leg with
the right foot up on its toe, you will be surprised
at how many good shots you hit.

On the range, make a point in
between hitting shots of holding and posing
a fully rotated finish; hold it for several
seconds and let the feeling sink in. Then
think about nothing but returning to that
position in the swing.
You can always tell a good
player by the shape of the follow-
through. If you end up in
balance, rotated and committed,
there’s every
chance your ball will
be travelling towards
the target.

Placing a club
across your chest,
arms-folded, make a
few rehearsals,
rotating to face the
target so that you
finish with your
weight on the left
side, right foot up on
the toe of the shoe

FREE UP
YOUR FINISH

James is self-taught and has done
exceptionally well to get his handicap
down to 7. But he is what I describe
as a ‘hitter’ rather than a swinger
of the golf club. Once the ball is
struck his follow-through tends to
be something of an afterthought –
and so perhaps the most valuable
advice I can give him, right up there
with lessons on the set-up, is to focus
on completing his swing.

Just one thought for James will
help him to improve his followthrough:
at the finish, he simply
needs to reveal all of the studs on his
right shoe. Releasing the right knee
in towards the left helps to encourage
the full rotation of the hips and the
upper body, relieving some of the tension
that currently exists. As you see
here, releasing the pressure in the
lower body positively assists James
in turning his shoulders on a level
plane to the finish, complete the arm
swing and the club rests comfortably
behind his neck, just below the Trilby!

Practise all these moves at home
before you attempt to introduce a
ball. If you learn to swing the club
freely the ball will be collected along
the way. Work on your posture to
improve balance throughout the
swing. Once you can swing to a full
follow-through with perfect balance
both the quality and accuracy of your
ball-striking will improve.
Good luck and keep swinging.

Allowing the right foot and knee to‘release’, so that you reveal the sole of the
right shoe, helps you to shift your weight
correctly to the left side and promotes the
structure of a well-balanced finish

Reproduced with kind permission of Golf International Magazine

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